• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

DVD theory..

Milo Williamson

Milo Williamson

Extreme Android User
I am talking about normal dvds, I know a few of them rent from redbox, or their local library, now the way people handle them is insane of having the scratches due to wear and tear, even if pausing them on forever and going to use the kitchen for a long nap or something, that does either hurt it because of dvd players or anything, now I usually slip one in and leave it playing, or turn down the volume, put it on mute whenever someone is talking to me. I have older ones that get so scratched up plenty of times and will not play.

Like Family Guy, Space Ghost C2C, Sing, Ugly American ones, just ontop of my head, but when I binge on anything I leave it on and wait until it is finished to pop out my ps3.. and look at the underneath due to scratches...

Anyone else get that right away of getting it on pause and then having it scratch up?
 
whats a dvd????

lol

i have not watched a dvd in like forever........lol but when i did, inever really noticed that just pausing a dvd to cause and scratching. i guess i would depend on the quality of dvd player you are using.
 
ocnbrze said:
whats a dvd????

lol

i have not watched a dvd in like forever........lol but when i did, inever really noticed that just pausing a dvd to cause and scratching. i guess i would depend on the quality of dvd player you are using.
Click to expand...
I am assuming that other DVD players and laptops have like the drawer even shut even more taller though, and depending on the firmwear, as well.. yeah.. Depending on the quality and how much time you spend on one over and over..But I am always the cautious one.
 
Over the years I've used tens of thousands of DVDs and have never encountered the problems you're claiming to be a problem, and that's with computer optical drives, laptop optical drives, and common household DVD players connected to TVs. Disc media left in an optical drive don't normally get scratched up in any way just spinning in their carriage and there's just a low, low power laser beaming a spot of light on the disc itself. There is no needle like with a vinyl record. Just a tightly focused bit of light. Light that doesn't scratch or damaged the disc surface. That's always a matter on how people handle the discs, not the optical drives.
 
CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays don't rely on any contact from the player. They're read by a thin laser beam that merely reads the binary data (1s and 0s) through the plastic. Any surface scratching will occur before or after being in the player.

Often this is from being in cardboard sleeves (the WORST way to store a disc), in a drawer loose where it's prone to being scratched, or just mishandling and improper cleaning.

And yes: there are awesome movies & shows that simply are not available online. We often break out DVDs to enjoy them.
 
The_Chief said:
CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays don't rely on any contact from the player. They're read by a thin laser beam that merely reads the binary data (1s and 0s) through the plastic. Any surface scratching will occur before or after being in the player.

Often this is from being in cardboard sleeves (the WORST way to store a disc), in a drawer loose where it's prone to being scratched, or just mishandling and improper cleaning.

And yes: there are awesome movies & shows that simply are not available online. We often break out DVDs to enjoy them.
Click to expand...
Yeah that is probably it, just the storage of them, I have them mostly in their original plastic DVD case.. There is a few box sets of mine, that are minted condition though when I do pop one out carefully.. and using a cloth to carefully pull them out.
 
I know this for a fact, whenever you load an used up album, and noticed how many people one song over and over, esp. "Relationships"then you have the LED scratch itup pretty hard, if I had a dime for every interuption, I will be a billionare..
 
I've never heard of a DVD being scratched in use. Careless handling is the obvious explanation when they are rentals (it's amazing how careless some people can be).

If you can put one in your player and it comes out with scratches it didn't have when it went in then there is something wrong with your player. ;)
 
Agreed. Scratches are only caused by handling the DVD itself.
The laser beam will not damage, dig in, or ruin a DVD surface, period.
No matter how many times you play it, or pause it for hours or days.
That's just how it works, Milo.
 
I never had issues with DVDs at all. Unlike VHS tapes that got eaten, or wouldn't rewind, or the VCR had a nervous breakdown (mode switch failure) etc.

I have only had one DVD player sort of die with a weak laser emitter LED, and can revive it for a time with adjustment to the power potentiometer and get a few more hours of use, then it does wonky again and refuse to read discs. I only got it for $15 at a thrift store and it's from 2001, time to lay it down I guess or part it out. I don't buy 'modern' DVD players I prefer the large, VCR sized units with front panel displays and endless customization options. They are just of higher quality. My new favorite is the huge, metal behemoth 5-disc DVD changer from Sony I also got from a thrift store for $25. I had what was left of a broken disc stuck to the platter and as a result wouldn't load anything but taking it apart and clearing out the debris fixed it. Amazing that no on knows simple repairs anymore and gives up on stuff so easily.

I am a holdout with physical media. I stream but usually purchased content I've had for years. I am trying to physical media my entire library though since the internet can go down any time (such as during a storm) and I don't like the thought that my 2010 Apple TV will one day no longer work. I don't do app updates and don't want to be forced so I am slowly converting all my digital stuff to physical. Recently got all of Babylon 5 on DVD
 
Nickdalzell I commend you for your willingness to use physical media.
I shudder to think what the next 20 years will bring to the world and how we watch movies, TV, videos and music.
Technology changes and like it or not, we're stuck with what we get, be it better or worse.
 
Not if we do something about it. They can't take physical media away. But they can modify your options in your streaming library. It only took a few instances of not being able to finish certain shows on Netflix (and them being unobtainium on other platforms) and the costs of multiple subscriptions to ruin my impressions of this 'future'.

Sometimes the old way is the better way. I can actually watch uncensored, unedited versions of Disney movies too. no buffering, no problems with an internet outage, no compression artifacts due to bandwidth constraints, actually owning your content, I don't see the issue.

It goes farther. I have a ton of DRM-free MP3s, but also everything from compact cassette, 8-tracks, and vinyl. I'm not limited to whatever the algorithm expects me to like, or offers, I don't pay a cent to keep playing, and don't need software updates. Heck, ultimately if not for the times I use Youtube or AF, I wouldn't even need a single one of my laptops online because everything from my music, my games, the like are offline.

I'm stubborn and used to things being a certain way and no matter what I'm determined to stay that way and I don't give up. I always have the drive to live my life my way. I'm not the type who just accepts what society dictates is acceptable or necessary, otherwise I'd probably be a hunter vs. a vegan. Culture has zero impact on how I choose to live, or what devices I choose to keep and use. If the 'newer' way is a worse version of what I have becomed accustomed to, I simply revert to what worked previously and stay there. If something I try out ends up frustrating me and increasing my anger/stress, I stop using it and go back. There ain't nothin' wrong with that.
 
Last edited:
I'm with you on this.
Almost everything I own is on physical media, then everything has been converted to digital media and stored on hard drives, DVD, CD and my computer, which runs as a media server so that I can play everything wirelessly on my home TVs, phones, etc...
I used to be in a band back in the 80s and 90s and miss those days.
 
I miss 80s and 90s music. Heck my music tastes love anything from the big band of the 1940s to up to around 1998. But today's music? feels like some algorithm or AI came up with it. The only exceptions are rare artists you never hear on the radio, like Mflex Sounds, Orkidea, or Shinnobu.

but there ain't nothing as soothing as popping in my Johnny Lee or Glen Campbell 8-tracks and closing my eyes and feeling like I've been transported into a cabin in the woods in 1973, oh, I can just smell that wood.
 
I grew up listening to the big bands of the 40s, Sinatra, Dean Martin and such.
Then the British invasion of the 60s, 70s rock, Zeppelin, Rush, to name a few.
 
Don't forget Styx, Pink Floyd, and early KISS.

I only knew '40s music via my dad. I'm old but not that old. He had some collections of Glen Miller, and the only way I even know who Howdy Doody was is via my dad.

The last time I heard Sinatra was at a car show where a 1978 Chrysler Imperial R-body that was the infamous 'Frank Sinatra Edition' (which flopped mostly due to its early Bendix fuel injection and electronic dashboard) playing one of his 8-tracks in the original stereo unit. That was one beautiful car! I've always been a sucker for the Malaise era of cars. The ride comfort was second to none.
 
nickdalzell said:
Don't forget Styx, Pink Floyd, and early KISS.

I only knew '40s music via my dad. I'm old but not that old. He had some collections of Glen Miller, and the only way I even know who Howdy Doody was is via my dad.

The last time I heard Sinatra was at a car show where a 1978 Chrysler Imperial R-body that was the infamous 'Frank Sinatra Edition' (which flopped mostly due to its early Bendix fuel injection and electronic dashboard) playing one of his 8-tracks in the original stereo unit. That was one beautiful car! I've always been a sucker for the Malaise era of cars. The ride comfort was second to none.
Click to expand...
My mother did that same thing, she just went around her home town and listen to some Sinatra, to REO speedwagon, AC/DC, et all, a few more country albums then I have though..
 
If only there were some way to retrofit an 8-track stereo into a 2005 Saturn. One day I hope to find the old '70s vehicles I covet, but I still fear they all got cash-for-clunkered (I hate you, Obama)

I don't belong in this era, I belong in the '50s. I want to live then, and see cars from that time as I drive. I don't want to see all the homogenized vehicles I see now, all grey, white and black, or silver, with those annoying blue HIDs or the most annoying being those 'DRL LED bars'. I hate LEDs so much.

I want somehow to find a way to live a '50s life where everything I see and do isn't ruined by people using smartphones or seeing newer vehicles. I want to live that life and never see anything modern. At least, in the '50s people had the sense to wait until dusk to turn their freaking headlights on, and they weren't supernova bright either. I just have to accept that I can't have it all consistent. I know areas to shop and get gas that have really old stores, really old gas pumps, and that's something, but I need to find that '76 Cordoba or '78 LTD. I want that cloud ride, cars made of metal, not plastic. Engines that sound like beasts not whatever tinny little lawnmower engine is in my Saturn. Sadly, if Biden gets his way, I might not be able to even have the Saturn by 2025. I don't have any interest in a self-driving car (not at least, until it can look like a special 1982 Trans Am that speaks in the voice of William Daniels) much less one with screens in my face, forced software updates, my drives being monitored by who knows whom, and having my range limited to where I can't drive to see my girl anymore (she lives 540 miles away, long past the range of any EV)
 
Last edited:
nickdalzell said:
If only there were some way to retrofit an 8-track stereo into a 2005 Saturn. One day I hope to find the old '70s vehicles I covet, but I still fear they all got cash-for-clunkered (I hate you, Obama)
Click to expand...

Or if they made like an opposite version of one of these?

8track.jpg



Years ago I knew someone who fitted an 8-track player into an early 90s Ford Escort, because he wanted to play his old C&W cartridges in the car. He also had a CB radio fitted as well. I'm sure in the UK, 8-track was never a factory fitted option in any British car, except maybe Rolls-Royce, and were always after-market.
 
Last edited:
mikedt said:
Or if they made like an opposite version of one of these?

View attachment 166205


Years ago I knew someone who fitted an 8-track player into an early 90s Ford Escort, because he wanted to play his old C&W cartridges in the car. He also had a CB radio fitted as well. I'm sure in the UK, 8-track was never a factory fitted option in any British car, except maybe Rolls-Royce, and were always after-market.
Click to expand...
I think who had one, maybe my parent's had this, and we rocking for the Ymca, disco duck and a few others, I think Little Richie was one of the artist was so constantly around.. ::: blinks ::: I feel my grey hairs growing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom